Cristiano Ronaldo quits Portugal camp after Jesus dispute

Cristiano Ronaldo has left Portugal’s national team camp in a dramatic break with coach Jorge Jesus, ending his involvement with the group after a dispute over his treatment. The Al-Nassr forward departed without saying goodbye to his teammates and boarded a private aircraft despite attempts by Jesus and the Portuguese federation president to persuade him to stay.

The disagreement followed Portugal’s 2-1 defeat by Norway, a match Ronaldo did not play. He had spent around 30 minutes warming up, an episode that reportedly caused frustration. Ronaldo then reacted angrily to Jesus’s press conference, in which the coach asserted that he alone controlled team decisions.

A meeting involving Ronaldo, Jesus and the federation president had taken place on Tuesday. Ronaldo was reportedly told that Jesus would acknowledge publicly that he had handled the Norway episode poorly. The coach’s subsequent comments instead deepened the dispute, prompting Ronaldo to leave the camp after learning what had been said.

The forward’s aircraft reached Copenhagen at 22:15 before continuing to Madrid at 23:35. It landed there at 02:40 after a flight of slightly more than three hours. Ronaldo has said he will explain the reasons for his departure later, but his immediate exit leaves Portugal without its captain for the remainder of the current camp.